History Main / LimitedAnimation

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' averts this. They use existing models from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, so you would think they could just be slapped together, but the episodes require a lot of painstaking work. Later seasons avert it entirely with some scenes utilizing motion capture. Actually played straight in seasons with Monty Oum's character animation. Oum had stated that he kept a pose library full of already keyframed animations and used Poser because the animations could be easily reused among different rigs. This also makes it a case of 3D limited animation. In addition, the show hides some unpolished animation in creative ways, like angling the camera and adding [[FalseCameraEffects artificial]] JitterCam to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dT4QUBDmtQ#t=1m55s hide an arm glitching out from mocap data mishaps]], along with having clipping and duplicated model extras justified by the original format.* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' also being an Oum show, uses limited animation much more conspicuously. Monty reused animations from previous projects with the show's characters and modified MMD character models, and the first season consisted entirely of playblasts with no lighting aside from the prebaked lighting in the environments. The seasons afterwards also had a limited number of background extras that would be reused over and over, sometimes leading to instances where one could spot "twins" in crowds.

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* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' averts this. They use existing models from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, so you would think they could just be slapped together, but the episodes require a lot of painstaking work. Later seasons avert it entirely with some scenes utilizing motion capture. Actually played ** Played straight in seasons with Monty Oum's Creator/MontyOum's character animation. Oum had stated that he kept a pose library full of already keyframed animations and used Poser because the animations could be easily reused among different rigs. This also makes it a case of 3D limited animation. In addition, the show hides some unpolished animation in creative ways, like angling the camera and adding [[FalseCameraEffects artificial]] JitterCam to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dT4QUBDmtQ#t=1m55s hide an arm glitching out from mocap data mishaps]], along with having clipping and duplicated model extras justified by the original format.* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' also being an ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', another Monty Oum show, project, uses limited animation much more conspicuously. Monty reused animations from previous projects with the show's characters and modified MMD character models, and the first season consisted entirely of playblasts with no lighting aside from the prebaked lighting in the environments. The seasons afterwards also had a limited number of background extras that would be reused over and over, sometimes leading to instances where one could spot "twins" in crowds.

** Heck, just about ''anything'' that the Mexico-based Gamma Productions animated on would have really limited animation, and not just Jay Ward's work (the aforementioned ''Rocky and Bullwinkle''), but Creator/TotalTelevision used them as well (most notably on ''WesternAnimation/{{Underdog}}'').

* The French cartoon ''WesternAnimation/LesShadoks'', having premiered in 1968, has noticeably limited animation in its first season that was made using a machine prototype, the animographe, and paper offcut. The machine prototype broke down by the time Season 1 finished, but every subsequent season used similar limited animation techniques to keep with the spirit of the show.

* The Spanish animation studio Creator/DoconFilmsProductions is infamous for constantly recycling animation in their cartoons; ''WesternAnimation/TheFruitties'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Scruff}}'' are perfect examples. One exception is ''WesternAnimation/TheFrogShow'', which D'Ocon Films co-produced with French company Ellipsanime.

*** ''Family Guy'' has developed a bad habit of doing this lately, with many episodes including at least one scene where the only motion by the one visible character is them blinking once in a while to remind you they're not a taxidermy while off-screen characters spend minutes talking to each other or at the visible character without getting any response.

* A typical facet of the VisualNovel genre when speaking to another character, although it might be subverted depending on the game. Despite making the leap to full 3D character models and scenes, ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'' still shows its characters snapping from one pose to the next off-camera with few instances of movement animation.

* Played with in ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm''. Taiga's animation is ''really'' detailed in the first Taiga dojo segment. Then in the next episode, it's revealed just how much that animation cost, and to get back on budget, she's been reduced to a sketched outline for the scene.

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* Played with in ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm''. Taiga's animation is ''really'' detailed in the first Taiga dojo segment. segment, with a number of SuperDeformed antics. Then in the next episode, it's revealed just how much that animation cost, cost (325,000 yen - about $7000 - for 40 seconds of animation), and to get back on budget, she's been reduced to a sketched outline for the scene.line art, and her companion Ilya has no intermediate frames.

* Played with in ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm''. Taiga's animation is ''really'' detailed in the first Taiga dojo segment. Then in the next episode, it's revealed just how much that animation cost, and to get back on budget, she's been reduced to a sketched outline for the scene.

* Creator/{{Disney}}** One of the earliest uses of limited animation was the "Baby Weems" segment of the 1941 Disney film ''Disney/TheReluctantDragon''. It tells the story of a baby genius in storyboard sketches with occasional bits of movement, to show how story artists plan a cartoon.

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* Creator/{{Disney}}Creator/{{Disney}}:** One of the earliest uses of limited animation was the "Baby Weems" segment of the 1941 Disney film ''Disney/TheReluctantDragon''.''Film/TheReluctantDragon''. It tells the story of a baby genius in storyboard sketches with occasional bits of movement, to show how story artists plan a cartoon.

** ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'' has one of the most ambitious uses of this ever devised--the five-minute long Ave Maria sequence, comprised of holy people traveling across the landscape, has barely any animation at all. Almost all of the "movement" is done by the camera, including a [[TheOner 160 second]] ending shot pulling into a [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome gorgeous sunrise.]]

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** ''Disney/{{Fantasia}}'' has one of the most ambitious uses of this ever devised--the devised -- the five-minute long Ave Maria "Ave Maria" sequence, comprised of holy people traveling across the landscape, has barely any animation at all. Almost all of the "movement" is done by the camera, including a [[TheOner 160 second]] ending shot pulling into a [[VisualEffectsOfAwesome gorgeous sunrise.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'', DependingOnTheArtist (a who's who of British animators worked on the film).** Ironically, Music/TheBeatles saw it as a [[AnimationAgeGhetto throwaway project]] and assumed that it'd be animated in the style of their [[WesternAnimation/TheBeatles 1965 cartoon]], which was done Creator/HannaBarbera–style by the same people. They changed their minds after seeing the [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs finished film]].* The opening sequence of ''WatershipDown'', storyboarded by John Hubley, who died before its release. The hallucination sequences are drawn on the [[http://chud.com/articles/content_images/NICK/DVD/WATERSHIP/PDVD_003.JPG same model]], notable for its ArtShift to detailed [[GhibliHills naturalistic]] animation and [[SanitySlippage back again]].

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* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'', DependingOnTheArtist (a who's who of British animators worked on the film).** film). Ironically, Music/TheBeatles saw it as a [[AnimationAgeGhetto throwaway project]] and assumed that it'd be animated in the style of their [[WesternAnimation/TheBeatles 1965 cartoon]], which was done Creator/HannaBarbera–style by the same people. They changed their minds after seeing the [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs finished film]].* The opening sequence of ''WatershipDown'', ''WesternAnimation/WatershipDown'', storyboarded by John Hubley, who died before its release. The hallucination sequences are drawn on the [[http://chud.com/articles/content_images/NICK/DVD/WATERSHIP/PDVD_003.JPG same model]], notable for its ArtShift to detailed [[GhibliHills naturalistic]] animation and [[SanitySlippage back again]].

* ''MrShow'' (which is influenced by ''Monty Python'') had a few particular sketches with this, most notably the animals in the Biosphere sketch as well as the "who you meet in Heaven". The birds in the Intervention link are (slightly) better about this. Overlapping with RogerRabbitEffect.* Poked fun at repeatedly in this sketch entitled [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5SD2UU_XYU Cheapo Cartoon Man]] from "London Weekend Television".

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* ''MrShow'' ''Series/MrShow'' (which is influenced by ''Monty Python'') had a few particular sketches with this, most notably the animals in the Biosphere sketch as well as the "who you meet in Heaven". The birds in the Intervention link are (slightly) better about this. Overlapping with RogerRabbitEffect.* Poked fun at repeatedly in this sketch entitled [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5SD2UU_XYU Cheapo "Cheapo Cartoon Man]] Man"]] from "London ''London Weekend Television".Television''.

* ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' uses this for their recurring "Cartoon Trump (Hillary, Putin, etc)" characters, who have only three or maybe four moves that they repeat unless an extra is added as TheReveal for a punch line. These are animated in time for a same-day broadcast.

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* ''Series/TheLateShowWithStephenColbert'' uses this for their recurring "Cartoon Trump (Hillary, Putin, etc)" etc.)" characters, who have only three or maybe four moves that they repeat unless an extra is added as TheReveal for a punch line. These are animated in time for a same-day broadcast.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' averts this. They use existing models from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, so you would think they could just be slapped together, but the episodes require a lot of painstaking work.** Later seasons avert it entirely with some scenes utilising motion capture.*** Actually played straight in seasons with Monty Oum's character animation. Oum had stated that he kept a pose library full of already keyframed animations and used Poser because the animations could be easily reused among different rigs. This also makes it a case of 3D limited animation. In addition, the show hides some unpolished animation in creative ways, like angling the camera and adding [[FalseCameraEffects artificial]] JitterCam to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dT4QUBDmtQ#t=1m55s hide an arm glitching out from mocap data mishaps]], along with having clipping and duplicated model extras justified by the original format.* ''[[{{WebAnimation/RWBY}} RWBY]]'' also being an Oum show, uses limited animation much more conspicuously. Monty reused animations from previous projects with the show's characters and modified MMD character models, and the first season consisted entirely of playblasts with no lighting aside from the prebaked lighting in the environments. The seasons afterwards also had a limited number of background extras that would be reused over and over, sometimes leading to instances where one could spot "twins" in crowds.

to:

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' averts this. They use existing models from the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series, so you would think they could just be slapped together, but the episodes require a lot of painstaking work.** work. Later seasons avert it entirely with some scenes utilising utilizing motion capture.*** capture. Actually played straight in seasons with Monty Oum's character animation. Oum had stated that he kept a pose library full of already keyframed animations and used Poser because the animations could be easily reused among different rigs. This also makes it a case of 3D limited animation. In addition, the show hides some unpolished animation in creative ways, like angling the camera and adding [[FalseCameraEffects artificial]] JitterCam to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dT4QUBDmtQ#t=1m55s hide an arm glitching out from mocap data mishaps]], along with having clipping and duplicated model extras justified by the original format.* ''[[{{WebAnimation/RWBY}} RWBY]]'' ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' also being an Oum show, uses limited animation much more conspicuously. Monty reused animations from previous projects with the show's characters and modified MMD character models, and the first season consisted entirely of playblasts with no lighting aside from the prebaked lighting in the environments. The seasons afterwards also had a limited number of background extras that would be reused over and over, sometimes leading to instances where one could spot "twins" in crowds.

* ''GirlChanInParadise'' parodies this to no end (when it's not delving into DerangedAnimation instead.) Main character Kenstar is almost always seen with the same vaguely determined expression on his face (which in some cases is even just sloppily copy-pasted on,) and Kotomaru is almost always in the same "arms-crossed, eyes closed and looking kind of irritated" pose. Other scenes are blatantly recycled (including Yusuke falling down an identical flight of stairs from earlier in the episode...[[RuleOfFunny in the middle of the desert.]]) Also done semi-in-universe as well after Green Guy's HeroicSacrifice; his voice actor is angry that his role ended so early and convinces the localization team to add him back in "as cheaply as possible," leading to a poor quality cut-out of Green Guy copy-pasted into random scenes (including ''on-top of'' Yusuke in one shot.)

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* ''GirlChanInParadise'' ''WebAnimation/GirlChanInParadise'' parodies this to no end (when it's not delving into DerangedAnimation instead.) Main character Kenstar is almost always seen with the same vaguely determined expression on his face (which in some cases is even just sloppily copy-pasted on,) and Kotomaru is almost always in the same "arms-crossed, eyes closed and looking kind of irritated" pose. Other scenes are blatantly recycled (including Yusuke falling down an identical flight of stairs from earlier in the episode...[[RuleOfFunny in the middle of the desert.]]) Also done semi-in-universe as well after Green Guy's HeroicSacrifice; his voice actor is angry that his role ended so early and convinces the localization team to add him back in "as cheaply as possible," leading to a poor quality cut-out of Green Guy copy-pasted into random scenes (including ''on-top of'' Yusuke in one shot.)

* Just about everything made by Creator/HannaBarbera, which for better or worse [[FollowTheLeader put its stamp]] on the trope as associated more with production values and Hanna-Barbera's own distinctive [[AnimationAgeGhetto children's animation]] style more than anything else.** Most famously, of course, ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'', ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear''.** Also, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo''. Most obviously, they used the same walk and run cycles over and over again on different {{Wraparound Background}}s. The original series got even more use out of the gang's run cycle by putting it on the standard EpisodeTitleCard.

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* Just about everything made by Creator/HannaBarbera, which for better or worse [[FollowTheLeader put its stamp]] on the trope as associated more with production values and Hanna-Barbera's own distinctive [[AnimationAgeGhetto children's animation]] style more than anything else.** else. Most famously, of course, ''WesternAnimation/TheJetsons'', ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' and ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear''.** ''WesternAnimation/YogiBear''. Also, ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo''. Most obviously, they used the same walk and run cycles over and over again on different {{Wraparound Background}}s. The original series got even more use out of the gang's run cycle by putting it on the standard EpisodeTitleCard.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast''. Space Ghost only has a limited number of poses. If there's ever a time in which Space Ghost needs to walk, it will just be a stock pose of him bobbing up and down. Zorak has even fewer poses, some of which were recycled from the 60's WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost cartoon. All of Moltar's poses were recycled from the 60's cartoon. Very little is actually animated on the show. Naturally, this was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in many episodes.** It should be noted that almost all of Zorak's poses were colored differently (he would be a different shade of green, and he'd alternate between a blue and red vest). Some of them had a completely different animation style.** This extended to WesternAnimation/CartoonPlanet, too, which recycled all of Space Ghost's, Zorak's, and Brak's poses from ''Coast to Coast''. [[NoFourthWall Brak would always comment on his lack of animation.]]** This also extended to WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow, though Brak had much more animation than he did on earlier shows.* Pretty much all of the original animated series on Creator/AdultSwim, with the exception of a few.

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* ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhostCoastToCoast''. Space Ghost only has a limited number of poses. If there's ever a time in which Space Ghost needs to walk, it will just be a stock pose of him bobbing up and down. Zorak has even fewer poses, some of which were recycled from the 60's WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost '60s ''WesternAnimation/SpaceGhost'' cartoon. All of Moltar's poses were recycled from the 60's '60s cartoon. Very little is actually animated on the show. Naturally, this was [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in many episodes.** episodes. It should be noted that almost all of Zorak's poses were colored differently (he would be a different shade of green, and he'd alternate between a blue and red vest). Some of them had a completely different animation style.** * This extended to WesternAnimation/CartoonPlanet, too, which recycled all of Space Ghost's, Zorak's, and Brak's poses from ''Coast to Coast''. [[NoFourthWall Brak would always comment on his lack of animation.]]** ]] This also extended to WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow, ''WesternAnimation/TheBrakShow'', though Brak had much more animation than he did on earlier shows.* %%* Pretty much all of the original animated series on Creator/AdultSwim, with the exception of a few.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' in their earlier episodes. Notably, the episode "Burger World" had a two-frame animation of Mr. Anderson repeatedly honking the horn of his car -- an animation so simplistic, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quLvKzZFv0c it can easily be made into an]] OverlyLongGag.* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''** Just about anything else from {{Creator/Filmation}}, actually. Which is expected, since they produced their shows on a shoestring budget.

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* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' in their earlier episodes. Notably, the episode "Burger World" had a two-frame animation of Mr. Anderson repeatedly honking the horn of his car -- an animation so simplistic, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quLvKzZFv0c it can easily be made into an]] OverlyLongGag.* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''** ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries''. Just about anything else from {{Creator/Filmation}}, actually. Which is expected, since they produced their shows on a shoestring budget.

** The 1990s ''[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries Spider-Man]]'' was guilty of this as well, sometimes using scenes from earlier episodes with different dialog.* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' in its early run had some animations that made the characters seem off and other animations that were clearly recycled for when characters repeated a physical action several times. For the former, the animations were limited on the mouth when characters talked but it greatly improved as the series went on. For the latter, an example of this can be seen in the episode "I am Peter, Hear Me Roar" where in one scene, a group of elderly people are watching soft core porn and one of the men punches his crotch several times to "wake up" his penis so it can get erect. One of the ladies next to him glances to the man when he hits his crotch, but her eyes dart back to the TV screen when the man pulls his fist back, and then they fall back to the man when he punches his crotch again. You can see the lady's eyes twitching back and forth between the man and the TV as the punching animation plays over and over. Cases like these faded as the series went on.** But as a compromise, everyone became stiffer, stuck in 3/4 view, and their movements looked like they were trapped in an eternal fast-forward.

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** * The 1990s ''[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries Spider-Man]]'' was guilty of this as well, sometimes using scenes from earlier episodes with different dialog.* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'':** In its early run run, it had some animations that made the characters seem off and other animations that were clearly recycled for when characters repeated a physical action several times. For the former, the animations were limited on the mouth when characters talked but it greatly improved as the series went on. For the latter, an example of this can be seen in the episode "I am Peter, Hear Me Roar" where in one scene, a group of elderly people are watching soft core porn and one of the men punches his crotch several times to "wake up" his penis so it can get erect. One of the ladies next to him glances to the man when he hits his crotch, but her eyes dart back to the TV screen when the man pulls his fist back, and then they fall back to the man when he punches his crotch again. You can see the lady's eyes twitching back and forth between the man and the TV as the punching animation plays over and over. Cases like these faded as the series went on.** on. But as a compromise, everyone became stiffer, stuck in 3/4 view, and their movements looked like they were trapped in an eternal fast-forward.

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RawToonage'' with ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BOBkbjfvM Badly Animated Man]]''.** Who is [[LogicBomb actually]] a rather [[StylisticSuck meticulously animated]] example.

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* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/RawToonage'' with ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4BOBkbjfvM Badly Animated Man]]''.** Man]]''. Who is [[LogicBomb actually]] a rather [[StylisticSuck meticulously animated]] example.

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